Using VLOOKUP to return a Contact for an Automation

System

This discussion was created from comments split from: Announcing Formula Support for Contact Columns.

katfooddfw

I am trying to have a contact show up in cells based on input on a form.

1. User fills out form with account manager name. For example, Rachel Alexander.
2. Rachel is in my contacts. However, when the data from the form populates the sheet it stays as text vs. turning it into a contact, complete with email.
3. This is a problem because I have automation set up to trigger when the information is added. Since it's not reading as a real contact there is no email for the automation to use.
4. I've tried the VLookUp idea, as is laid out in this string. This doesn't seem to turn a text name into a contact. It only finds the email on the other sheet, which means that I will have to have an extra column. Is that the only way to do it?
5. At this point I can't figure out how to make the name from a form become a contact that is already a contact in Smartsheet.

Paul Newcome

@katfooddfw

You would either need to have the user enter their email, or you would need to build out a table that has the names in one column and the emails in the other. Then you can use a formula to pull the email from the table based on the name entered.

You can also "pre-populate" the options available in a Contact type column if you already know who will be filling out the form which would give them the option of selecting their name from a dropdown.